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Best Homemade Lemon Loaf

Best Homemade Lemon Loaf, is a delicious moist sweet bread recipe. Made with fresh lemons and a simple lemon glaze. No beaters necessary, just a couple of bowls and utensils! The perfect snack, dessert or even Breakfast Bread.

Lemon loaf bread with 2 slices cut.


 

I love lemons. I love the smell of lemons, I love the taste of lemons, anything lemon is fine by me. When I was a young woman there was a lemon cologne my friends and I would wear, I loved it. Just wish I could find it again!

Recipe Ingredients

  • Flour
  • Baking powder
  • Salt
  • Sugar
  • Butter
  • Zest
  • Eggs
  • Milk

Glaze

  • Juice
  • Sugar
Lemon loaf on a white board.

How to make the Lemon Loaf

Pre-heat the oven and grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and part of the sugar, add the softened butter and with a pastry blender or fork blend together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest.

Whisking the dry ingredients in a bowl and adding the zest.

In a small bowl add the eggs and beat lightly with a fork, add the milk and beat until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour is moistened. Do not over mix.

Adding the dry ingredients to the wet and stirred until just combined.

In prepared loaf pan add the batter and bake until tooth pick comes out clean. Cool in the pan then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Bread before and after baked in a loaf pan.

In a small pot add the lemon juice and sugar, over medium heat stirring constantly bring to a boil until thickened. With a pastry brush, brush syrup over the top of the cooled or even warmish bread.

Brushing the syrup on the bread.

It doesn’t even need a heavy icing because the light  lemon syrup is the perfect finish. I can say I have been making this bread for over 20 years. Every time I make this recipe I get asked for it, Lemon Loaf is one of my sister-in-law’s favourites.

Lemon Bread is perfect as a breakfast bread or even with afternoon tea. It is so easy to make, no need for beaters, it is very much like making muffins. All you need is a fork or pastry blender, (or your clean fingers will do to make the coarse crumbs, and a wooden spoon or spatula for mixing.

Loaf on a white board.

Substituting a Lemon Glaze for the Lemon Syrup

The delicious lemony syrup is the perfect addition to this loaf, but if you prefer you can substitute with a simple lemon glaze. Mix together 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 – 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon or milk or cream.

You want the glaze to be on the thick rather than thin. So you should start with 1 tablespoon of juice and go from there.

Loaf with 2 slices cut.

In my opinion this is one of the most delicious Lemon Loaves I have ever tried and I hope you think so too. Enjoy!

More Lemon Recipes you may like.

Sweet bread with 2 slices cut.

Best Homemade Lemon Bread

Rosemary Molloy
A delicious Lemony Sweet bread with a simple glaze.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 slices
Calories 291 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (approximately 1 lemon)
  • cups all purpose flour
  • teaspoons baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon salt*
  • cups granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup butter softened*
  • 3 large eggs
  • ¾ cup milk (whole or 2% milk)

*If you use salted butter then use a pinch of salt.

LEMON SYRUP

  • 4 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Instructions
 

  • Pre-heat oven to 350° (180° celsius), grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
  • In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1 1/4 cups of sugar, add the softened butter and with a pastry blender or fork blend together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest.
  • In a small bowl add the eggs and beat lightly with a fork, add the milk and beat until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour is moistened. Do not over mix.
  • In prepared loaf pan add the batter and bake for approximately 60 minutes, (this all depends on the oven, could be a little more or a little less) or until tooth pick comes out clean. Cool 15 – 20 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

LEMON SYRUP

  • In a small pot add the 4 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of sugar, over medium heat stirring constantly bring to a boil until thickened. With a pastry brush, brush syrup over the top of the cooled or even warmish bread. Enjoy!

Notes

What does stir just until moistened mean?

Mix just until moistened means to combine the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients just until the dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened but the mixture is still slightly lumpy. I stir 15-16 times only and it always turns out perfect.

Can I substitute the lemons?

If you wish you could substitute with either limes, oranges or even mandarines. Do use fresh rather than bottled they make a big difference in taste.

Can I make muffins instead of a loaf?

Yes you can, I would probably bake for about 20-25 minutes, more or less, start to check after 20 minutes. 
Mix just until moistened means to combine the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients just until the dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened but the mixture is still slightly lumpy. I stir 15-16 times only and it always turns out perfect.

Substitute for the lemon syrup

The delicious lemony syrup is the perfect addition to this loaf, but if you prefer you can substitute with a simple lemon glaze. Mix together 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 – 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon or milk or cream.

How to store the lemon bread

To store the bread, wrap the completely cooled bread well in plastic wrap, it will keep for up to 2-3 days at room temperature or up to 7 days in the fridge.
To freeze it, wrap the completely cooled bread in plastic wrap and place in a freezer safe bread. If you freeze it glazed, let the glaze harden before wrapping. It will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 291kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 72mg | Sodium: 270mg | Potassium: 114mg | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 430IU | Vitamin C: 1.4mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 1.3mg
Did You Make This Recipe?Please leave a comment below or pin it to your Pinterest account!

Updated from December 13, 2014.

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352 Comments

  1. Hi Rosemary, do you think the loaf would be as good if I used dark brown sugar instead of white, thats all I have unfortunately! Can’t wait to try this recipe ๐Ÿ™‚

    Thanks

    1. Hi Beth, isn’t that strange I was just thinking the same thing myself today. I really don’t know but why not give it a try. But don’t pack the sugar down. Let me know how it turns out. ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. I NEED something lemony in my life today and this looks like the perfect recipe….especially from someone who makes gone with the wind references ๐Ÿ˜› I’m heading upstairs to make this right now! Thanks for sharing ๐Ÿ˜€

  3. Being a picky eater growing up I have never eaten a lemon dessert. I guess I just had it in my mind that lemon wouldn’t taste good. So this was the first time I’ve ever made ANYTHING lemon and OMG it was fantastic!!! I added 1 teas. of lemon juice to the milk and egg only after reading the review that it wasn’t as lemony as they thought it would be but everything else I followed to a T! I loved how I didn’t need lemon extract, This was fantastic! The Syrup over the top was delish! Thank you! It was an easy recipe to follow and we all devoured this loaf in a day!

  4. Aloha from Hawaiสปi!!!! I just made this and poured some of the better into a mini muffin pan for my daughters classmates….. OH MY GOODNESS, these are DELICIOUS!!! SO ONO! (what we say here)

  5. This looks delish! Can’t wait to try it…..I love anything lemon.
    Question – if I were to divide the batter into 2 portions, how long should mini loaves be baked? Thanks!

    1. Hi Be, thanks, I would say start checking for doneness at around the 30-35 minute mark. Hope you enjoy it.

  6. This is in the oven now and smells amazing! Does this bread freeze well? If I were to freeze it, would I have to wait and put the glaze on it when I serve it? Thanks!

    1. HI Kayla, I freeze it without the glaze. I think it is best to glaze it before serving. I hope you enjoy it.

  7. Hi Rosemary, it turned out perfectly and we love it! Thanks again for sharing. Tastes really good. Couldn’t wait for breakfast so we had it for dessert. ๐Ÿ˜‰

  8. Looks amazing, thanks for sharing, Rosemary!

    In the recipe, is it plain flour or bread flour? And is it unsalted or salted butter?

    Looking forward to making it soon ๐Ÿ™‚

    Cheers from New Zealand.

    1. Hi Yvette, plain flour and salted butter, can’t find unsalted butter in Italy, at least my part of Italy :), hope you enjoy it. Let me know.

  9. I made this bread for Easter. Unfortunately, the bread was only about 2 inches thick. Tasted good but very dense. More like a scone than a bread. What may have happened?

    1. Hi Donna, I really don’t know what went wrong, I make this quite often and I have never had that problem, maybe your loaf pan was too large or your baking powder expired. Let me know. Happy Easter.

      1. I’ve had my bread turn out dense before and concluded it was expired baking powder. Baking powder expires in 30 days after opened. Hope this helps.:)

  10. This is seriously good, and very easy. My husband loves it! For those of you who think it looks good (and it does!) well, start cooking, cause it tastes as good as it looks.

4.43 from 381 votes (302 ratings without comment)

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